Tag: Tips

Sometimes, SOMETIMES, I forget that you can make dip out of whatever you want to.

We have a nice little shelf in our cupboard that is full of canned and dried beans, and nearly all of them are used for specific recipes… because its what I know well and it’s what I know every one likes. Black beans are for salad toppers, black bean burgers or black bean tortas. Kidney beans are also for salad toppings, re-fried beans, tacos or bean salads. Chickpeas are … also for salad toppings, for roasting, for hummus and for “tuna” salad sammiches. Lentils are for adding to spaghetti sauce and chillies. Etcetera, etcetera.

But WHAT IF I TOLD YOU you could make a bean dip out of any beans you liked?

…… You may likely say “Ah… duh?”

But if you didn’t… and OK even if you did… I thought I’d share a yummy little dip recipe using sundried tomatoes and my favorite legume… lentils!

Lentils are an eeeeexcellent source of folate (one cup of lentils can provide almost 90% of your daily recommended intake) and is also a pretty good source other vitamins and minerals like iron, manganese, thiamin and B6, among others. High in fibre, a relatively good source of protein and low in fat, the fact that I love them is just a bonus!

I personally think they make a great sub for ground beef in pasta sauce or in chilies (just don’t over cook them!) and it wasn’t until recently that I decided to try and see what kind of dip I could make outtuv’em! Here goes.

What You’ll Need

1 cup of canned lentils (OR cooked from dry lentils work as well)

5 pieces of sundried tomatoes (I buy the kind that are NOT soaking in a bath of oil)

What You’ll Need to do

FIRST you must chop your sundried toms into just slightly smaller pieces and get them swimming in a bowl of boiled water to soak.* You want to let them soak for about 5 minutes or so.

THEN get your lentils in a… thingy… to blend. I use an emulsifier… because it’s less effort than taking out, and using, and cleaning my food processor but you could totally just whip out your processor if you don’t have an emulsifier.

NEXT put aaaallll that stuff, save for your olive oil and salt, into the “thingy” along with your lentils. Be sure to reserve your now warmish reddish tomato infused soaking water.*

AND NOW YOU EMULSIFY, or food process… adding in that reserved tomato soaking water a tbsp at a time to help get it to a texture of your liking (I added about 2 tbsps.)

LASTLY pour in your olive oil and stir just by hand with a spoon. This step really just adds a slightly different kind of texture, and another layer of flavor, so if you’d like to keep this oil free, then by all means skip this step!

Ok ACTUAL LASTLY. If you’re feeling it, you can also add a little extra salt to taste. You might find this dip flavorful enough, or depending on what you are pairing it with you might find you don’t want extra salt, but it’s your dip so do what you want!

Oh and Enjoy!

*IF you can not find sundried tomatoes that are not already pre-soaked in oil, and you MUST use the oil soaked kind, then of course you can skip this step of soaking your toms. You also may choose to skip the last step of adding the olive oil if your dip already has the added oil from the sundried tomatoes. Just be sure to have a couple tablespoons of water set to the side, to act as your watering down liquid to get those lentils to the right consistency!

Pro-ish Tip:Let your dip sit for between 10-20 minutes (or longer), if you have the time and/or the patience, to really let the flavor from all those powdered seasonings soak in and become nice a full!

I don’t mind it at all actually. In an age where scrolling quickly past hundreds and hundreds of photos is in, and interest in reading long winded blog posts is dwindling (that was painful to type), creating a quick meme to get a point across in a way others will soak it in is nice! The problem is that soooo many of them make me shake my head. Every. Single. Time I see them…. and I’m no saint, even I have used some silly ones before. How I personally feel about things is aalllwaaays important though, so I’m going to go ahead and share them (my thoughts I mean) with you, in sort of a de-bunking style post today!

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Lets start with this guy. I have actually talked about this one briefly before (for different reasons) in my How to Insure Failure post, and that is the whole idea of “Go Big or Go Home!”

I’m not even sure I reeaally need to explain why this one is so silly. Probably the silly-est, and though I may be fond of silliness (Friends reference anyone?), this one has my eyes rolling in full force when I see it STILL floating around.

Where did this feeling that we all need to be fitness models or body builders right out the gate come from? Why do we feel like we MUST BE EXTREME or there is just no point? Can I tell you honestly, I can not even count the amount of times when I have talked myself out of a workout because I felt like I couldn’t commit to an “insane” one. at. that. moment. (you know? “Train insane, or remain the same.”?)

How many times could I have still got a small 10-15 minute workout in, if I hadn’t let myself believe that there was no point in an only 10-15 minute workout?

This is exactly what causes the “Might as well just not do it” attitude.

IMO.

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Alright now this ones an oldy… Ok the last one has been around for a while too, but I remember seeing this one back when I first started my own health journey, and I think I had even shared it then as well!

No wonder so many fail, or don’t even bother trying, if we are spreading the word that good food should be slow, expensive and hard.

The reality is that healthy can be all of those things! “Fake” being the least of them, I’ll give it that. Healthy can certainly be easy, cheap and fast, and to assume other wise could be exactly why some struggle with incorporating healthy choices to their diet.

How easy is it to cut up some veggies to snack on, or slice (or peel even) an orange? How cheap is a bundle of bananas, a bit of celery, bag of rice, can of beans or a sack of potatoes? How fast is it to grab an apple, a handful of trail mix or granola, or *gasp* all three, when you’re in a rush to run out the door?

Obviously these are just SOME examples, but the point is, you just go ahead and be fast cheap and easy baby, go for it.

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Alright these next two are ones where I SEE the point they are trying to make, yet still something about them makes me say “Oh man” every time I scroll past one. The first one being this guy!

It sure would appreciate nutrients ALONG with those calories but do not be fooled. If you are starving do not just eat a handful of cucumbers and tell yourself that’s enough. Feeeeed yourself.

A vitamin water, for example, is *cough* “full” of nutrients in the form of vitamins (and sometimes minerals), it also is devoid of calories. So by the standards of this here quote, it should be just what your body is asking for! But it is not. You will most definitely, and understandably, still be hungry.

I’m gonna need you to go ahead and squuueeeeze the word “empty” between “not” and “calories”, that’d be great (Office Space reference anyone?).

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AND LASTLY.

Ok so this one is suuuper nit-picky, I know, but every time I see it, it just makes me think. So I wanted to share my thoughts. I told you, my thoughts are important.

Food is for fuel, yes… And for health…

And for fun. And for relaxing. And for enjoyment. Food makes memories, and brings culture and creates moods. Food is life and love and pleasure.

We feed ourselves to live, for our bodies to thrive, to be healthy, to invest in our future health… but it also creates joy in this life we work so hard to be healthy in.

So learn to eat healthy. Learn to nourish your body with nutrient dense CALORIES. Learn to make good food choices. Learn how good food can be indulgent food as well as healthful. Learn that eating well doesn’t mean starving yourself or eating blandly or strictly.